Following a marathon 16-hour negotiation on the 113th day of the lockout, the NHL owners and the players association have finally struck a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement. The term of the deal is for 10 years and will salvage what’s left of the 2012-13 season.

It’s official. As of 12am Sunday morning, the current collective bargaining agreement expired. With no agreement in place, the owners have decided to lock out the players, putting the 2012-13 season in jeopardy.

The Kings entered the league in 1968 during the first of many expansions by the NHL and have sat idly by watching other teams hoist the cup and call themselves champions. Now it’s Los Angeles’ turn to revel in that glory.

The Edmonton Oilers will select first in the 2012 NHL Entry draft for the third straight year, the first team to do so since the Quebec Nordiques did in the late from 1989-91. This was anther blow to the Columbus Blue Jackets, who just can’t buy a break.

Peter Stewart breaks down the Round 1 matchups in the Eastern Conference before giving you his prediction. Will there be any sweeps? Will the defending Stanley Cup Champs make it out of the first round?

Nashville-Detroit is another matchup that will be a great series but for different reasons than the four/five matchup in the East. It’s also another case of how unfortunate it is to lose one of these teams in the first round.

Martin Havlat returned to the lineup last Thursday Night at the Shark Tank in San Jose in an important game against the Nashville Predators, which the Sharks won 2-1 in a shootout. His return is exactly what the Sharks need to make that final playoff push and get them into the post-season.

In the wake of the supposed most exciting day in the hockey season, outside of the playoffs of course, the NHL trade deadline was in a word, dead. Only 15 moves were made involving 31 players and 11 draft picks, and it wasn’t until after the deadline had passed that an exciting and unpredictable trade happened, which leads me into examining the winners and losers of yesterday’s deadline.

The Columbus Blue Jackets don’t seem to care that the trade deadline is on Monday. In the past two days they’ve traded away two of their top six most expensive contracts. It’s going to be interesting leading up to the trade deadline on Feb. 27 to see where Rick Nash ends up, if anywhere at all.